Kim Clijsters of Belgium plays a shot in her semifinals match against Alisa Kleybanova of Russia in Sydney Thursday. (AP) SYDNEY: US Open champion Kim Clijsters came from a break down in the deciding set to beat Alisa Kleybanova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) Thursday and advance to the Sydney International final. Clijsters will play Li Na of China, who beat Bojana Jovanovski 7-6 (5), 6-3. In the men's tournament, Gilles Simon advanced to the semifinals by beating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3. Simon's victory set up a meeting with third-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4. In the other semifinal match, Florian Mayer of Germany will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia. Mayer beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-4, 6-1, and Troicki defeated Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-4. Nalbandian ousts Isner In Auckland, former world No. 3 David Nalbandian beat ailing defending champion John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (3) Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Heineken Open. Nalbandian will play Almagro in the semifinals while Ferrer will take on unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo who beat the No.7 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-2, 6-4. Top-seed Ferrer beat No. 8 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in a marathon match between former champions. Groth in semifinals In Hobart, Jarmila Groth of Australia will play her doubles partner Klara Zakopalova for a place in the Hobart International final. Groth comfortably defeated Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals Thursday, while her Czech doubles partner Zakopalova beat top-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-2. The other semi will be between American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and China's Peng Shuai, who both played two matches Thursday. Rain washes out play In Melbourne, rain washed out Thursday's play at the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament, forcing organizers to plan an eight-game “pro-set” match Friday. Nadal, Wozniacki top seeds Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will carry top seedings into next week's Australian Open, reflecting their No. 1 rankings in men's and women's tennis. With seedings no longer done on organizers' discretion but purely on rankings, nine-time Grand Slam winner Nadal was named Thursday as leading the men's seedings from close rival Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Sweden's Robin Soderling. Wozniacki heads the women's seedings from Vera Zvonareva, Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams.
